The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-11-22
THE ILL FATED scHoLTEN.
Belief that the Rosa Mary was the
steamer In Fault.
Captain and Mate Give Their Side
of the Story.
List Of Some Of the Disasters Of the
Past.

IoNnoN. Nov. 2l.-Two bodies of the vic
tins of the sinking of the steamer w. A.
Scholten by Ecollision with steamer Rosa
Mary of Dover, England, have foated ashore
at Deal. There is now no doubt that Cap
tain Toat went down with his steamer. Mr.
Robson. one of the passengers saved, said to
a reporter that the Scholten had just weighed
anchor when the collision occurred. There
were 800 life belts on board and most of the
passengers were supplied with them, but
they proved useless in majority of cases as
the people were engulfed with the ship. The
steamers decks burst when she was found
erinq. The sunken vessel lies in 20 fathoms
OF water. The survivors win sail for New
York Wednesday.
despatch from Dover this afternoon says
that 50 persons in all have been saved from
the wreck No more bodies have been re-
covered. 1t is the universal feeling that the
fault of the collision rests with the steamer
Chief Mate Wells of that vessel states that
she left HartlepoOl Friday in command OF
Captain Webster. and with a crew OF 16 men.
On the night OF the collision 0 !, tnere was AS,
collision occurred. We had been at anchor
since o'clock. Myself and the captain
were on the bridge. The sea was OF the
calmest. Our lights were burning brightly
and the fog bell was sounding cons tantly. L
first saw the colliding steamer off our star
board bow. She was showing white and
green lights indicating that she was shaping
her course to starboard. We could not shit
our position, being anchored, and with the
tide ebb. The steamer soon ported her helm
and attempted to cross our bows The tide,
however, not being rightly judged, settled
the vessel on our bows cutting her to the
waters edge. / cannot say whether II was
the Schelten that collded with us; What
ever vessel it was, she proceeded on her
course and soon disappeared in the darkness;
We remained at anchor during the night ana
were piloted to Dover at o'clock the next
morning"
Captain Webster of the Rosa Mary, states
that the weather during the voyage was hazy
and the Rosa Mary anchored for three hours
off Halfordness. She proceeded at IL O'Clock
and passed East Goodwin lightshlp at In
the evening. The fog became so thick that
she was compelled to anchor again at
o'clock, the vessel being then from seven to
eight miles west southwest OF East Goodwin
light. The collision occurred at about $50
The forecastle lookout was the first to intl-
mate the approach of vessel.
Twenty-three bodies of the victims OF the
disaster have been identified.
Wrecks Of the Past.
NEW YORK, Nov. 21.-The following is
list of the great marine disasters Of the past
century:
The greatest marine disaster Of the pre-
sent century was the sinking of the British
frigate st. George and Defence. off the coast
off the coast of Jutland, in 1911, by which
1000 lives were lost.
The Amson, a West India mail steamship,
Erck an
January 4, 1852, and 1o2 lives lost.
The Birkenhead, an English troop ship,
was wrecked of coast of South Africa, on or
about February 26, 1852. and 456 out Of the
63S persons on board lost.
The City of Glasgow, with 4S0 on board,
and the City of Boston, with the same num-
Der, were never heard from after leaving
port.
The Arctic was in collision with the Vesta
in a fog off Newfoundland on September 20,
1854, and 376 out of 400 passengers and crew
were lost
from Liverpool for New York in January,
1856, with 1856 on board, and was never heard
from afterward.
The Austria, British steam emigrant
sloop, left Hamburg on September z, 1893,
and was burned in midocean, all Dut of OF
her 53S passengers and crew being lost.
The Pomona, an American ship, left Liver
pool on April 81 1859, and was wrecked on
the Irish coast. OF the 475 persons on board
only "a were saved.
The White Star steamship Atlantic was
wrecked on the coast OF Nova Scotia "a
April /, 1873, and 546 out OF her 976 passen-
gers and crew were lost
In the same year, in November, the French
steamship Vile du Havre vas in collision
with the English steamer Loeb Earn. and
sunk in twelve minutes, 217 lives being lost.
The year 1878 was unusually prolific In
disasters. The Metropolis, from Philadel-
phia for Para, Brazil, went ashore on the
coast of North Carolina on January 13, and
of her 260 passengers and crew 5S only were
saved.
Just four months later the German iron
clad Grosser Kurfurst was sunk by the Konig
Wilhelm, of the same feet, and nearly 800
lives lost.
On September Sd the excursion steamer
Princess Alice was sunk in the Thames by
the Bywell Castle, and 600 lives lost.
The last of the years series OF disasters
was the sinking of the Pommeranla, OF the
Hamburg Line, near Dover, england, IN
November, by the sailing vessel Noel Eillau,
when 55 lives were lost.
On January 10, 1888, the Hamburg -Ameri-
can steamer Cimbria was sunk off Borkum
by the English steamer Sultan. Out OF AT
persons on board only "a were saved.
The City of Columbus, from Boston for
Savannah, went ashore on the Devils Back,
near Gay Head, on January Is, 1884, and 127
lives were lost.
In 1856, on March 13, the Cunard steam
ship Oregon was run into off Fire Island by
an unknown schooner and sunk in short
time. The passengers and crew OF the Ore
gon were all saved, but the mystery OF the
schooner was never solved.